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[WIP] Arcantis, the lake city

Hey,

I'm reading once again The Hobbit, and I got inspired by it to draw a city that wasn't built near a lake, but over it, a city built in big wooden plataforms. To make things a little bit different I also decided to make it a WIP post - my first actual WIP post outside the Challenges forums.

In ancient times it was just a little village, built on the ground next to the lake. But after a several number of years - more than a century - the river started to overflow from time to time, making the life there tough. People would have to rebuild houses, plantations, furnitures, etc., just as they would lose many cows, sheeps, and animals in general. After one of the most terrible overflows in their history - when the lake even covered the houses next to it, killing chlidren, seniors, and taking everything from the poor little village - those who were still alive decided it was time to move to another location, or build a village waterproof. Half of them moved, the rest stayed where they were and started cutting trees and constructing high plataforms so that they wouldn't have to worry with the overflows again.

I haven't done much so far, just the plataforms, the land and the bridge. I'm using torstan's tutorial on making cities, so next step will be probably to draw the main buildings of the city. This time I'll try to make everything - except the painting - by hand (what includes the wirtting), I hope it gets nice.

Update: Just some main buildings, I'm not sure if you can read what I wrote on the paper - It's just to guide myself, not a definitive writing -, but I draw:
1)The great house; 2)Lighthouse; 3)Warehouses; 4)Watchtower; 5)Smith; 6)Inn; 7)Shrine; Barracks; 9)Dockers' Union.

They built it up again very quickly, what does not mean the structure is bad, it is actually pretty good till these days. Where are the barracks now, was, at first, the location of the Great House - where the five leaders live. The first plataform to be built was the one closer to the land, after that the one at the left, then the central (L shape), the top one (where is the new Great House), the top-left, the top-right, the big at right, and last one was that of the lighthouse. As soon as the lighthouse started working, merchant ships and boats - that once had to cross the lake going to the south or north without any place to rest some nights - came like bees on honey. The village then built the docks, which were lower than the plataforms, on the same level as the river, where the ships stayed. In case of overflows the docks are submerged in water, and the ships just stop by the plataforms then.

Bigger update, now with much more buildings. Most of them are just common houses.

But what does the Five Leadres mean? Also known as the Great Five, they are those men who basic rule the city of Arcantis. They are not any man, but they also don't come from a rich or powerfull family - they can, but it is not required -, they are chosen by several challenges, and anyone can compete, as long as the one is: A man (women are not allowed); more than 20 winters old. The number of challenges is not always the same, and it depends on the number of participants. Each Challenge take out five men of the challenge, and it goes on untill there is something between 6 and 10 men, when the final Challenge is done. All challenges have something to do with water, since holding your breath and submerging your head, to fishing with bare hands the biggest fish. The last challenge is to cross swiming the lake, and it could even sound easy, if the lake wasn't 1~2 miles wide. The five who can get to the other side of the lake first are the Great Five. But how often does this competition happnes? It depends, the rules are that it will only have new competitions if two or more of the five die, resigns or are permanently disabled for some reason (to prevent dictatorship). The Five live on the Great House, with their families. They manage to keep the city safe, to control the money waste, to order any repairs needed on the structure, amog other things.

I think there are some important buildings I'm missing. Can you guys help me? What do you think the city should have?
PS: It has no plantations, so it does not need any sort of Mill (Windmill, watermill....).

In my opinion, the city needs some mills. Not for grain, but for the power you can get. I could imagine that the smiths or some other craftsmen would prefer the mill to do the hard work instead of themselves. Also you need some kind of sawmill, as this city is depending on its wooden plataforms, they'll need to renew the old parts to keep it safe.

Beh, my poor english has betrayed me again! I tought mill meant only things for grain prepare . Indeed, smiths might need the mills, and a sawmill is a "must have" on a city like this, I just didn't know how to say it in english - and I forgot to write woodworker on the last post - because yes, the maintenance is more than importante in this city, is a matter of life. Thanks for clarifying it

@Edit: Well... anyone has an tips on how can I darw a sawmill? Also a mill for the smith? I mean, does the smith or the sawmill need water force? Wind force maybe? I'm serching for it on google but all it is said about Blacksmith is that he needs: Anvil, Bellows, hammers, Swages, among other items.

I appreciate any help

Last edited by Beoner; 03-15-2013 at 11:46 AM.
Reason: Adding a call for help

From all maps I have seen, the smith is always drawn as a simple house, with a chimney for the furnace and eventually some area for him to work with the Anvil.

As for the Sawmill I think a big common house would do it, like a Warehouse, with enough space to the workers cut and prepare the wood, as so to stock for future use. I've read some about those techniques and I don't remember anything about using Water or Wind force to do the work. All they used was fire (furnace) and human force, to cut the wood or hammer the iron.

I think historically, that smiths did not use mechanical hammers until much later, but water powered sawmills were in use in the 1700's, possibly earlier. The reconstructions I've seen did not use a circular blade, but a long vertical blade that moved up and down as the water wheel turned.

I think historically, that smiths did not use mechanical hammers until much later,

I know of continental hammersmiths that date back to the 17th Century (i.e. 1600s). A hammersmith is a smithy with a hammer that usually is powered by a waterwheel. I know of a copper hammersmith in Northern Germany with two waterwheels: One to power the hammer and a smaller second waterwheel to power the bellows.

but water powered sawmills were in use in the 1700's, possibly earlier. The reconstructions I've seen did not use a circular blade, but a long vertical blade that moved up and down as the water wheel turned.

Again, I know of continental prototypes that go back to the 17th Century. But you're correct about the vertical saw blades. If there were circular saws in those days, I've found no historical trace of them yet.

This photo shows a typical rural sawmill that dates from the 18th Century (1700s). It's called the Schwarzmühle (Black Mill), and it's on the small Weismain (Wise Main) River in Northern Bavarian Upper Franconia.

Unfortunately, I have only one interior photo of an historical, waterwheel-powered sawmill. If you look closely, you'll see the vertical blade in the middle of the photo:

The photo was taken in the Black Forest Open Air Steward's Farm (Schwärzwälder Freilichtmuseum Vogtsbauernhof), an open air museum near Gutach in the Black Forest of German Badinia.

Sorry about the quality of these photos. They're scans of slides (diapositives) taken with a film camera back in the early 1980s.